This is the Omnibus edition of * Blindsight * and * Echopraxia *. FIRST CONTACT: 13 FEBRUARY 2082. The day sixty-five thousand objects burned briefly around Earth: an unexplained moment of surveillance by an alien intelligence. We called it Firefall. Two months later, we sent the Theseus reconnaisance mission into deep space. Somewhere past Jupiter, we lost contact. For the last twenty-five years we have waited for word. No further sightings of ""fireflies"" have been reported. But all this is about to change. For a man hiding in the Oregon desert is about to play a key role in the next stage of human evolution. And first he must find the Theseus mission...

Annie's life has been touched by tragedy. As she struggles with depression, strange events take place that make it impossible for her to move on.Short story of two brothers on opposite sides during the first chaotic and violent days of the Spanish Civil War in 1936.

Nora finds her life spinning out of control. She finds herself in the middle choosing between the man she married or the love she always had for Corbin. Will she choose whats right?Author Lauren Jefferson set out to write something completely different, and she achieved that by combining a handful of bizarre suggestions for objects and scenarios intended for inclusion, given to her by Twitter followers.'Small White Room' follows a man and his surrealist captivity... but is it the room holding him hostage or something more?

Luther Cross has been through Hell—literally. Born of a mother he watched die, conceived as part of a demonic ritual, and raised by monks after being saved by a mysterious, murderous individual, Cross now makes what living he does through confidence schemes…and the death of demons.Pro Se Productions goes to Hell and back with the debut of its newest Single Shot Signature Series. Author Percival Constantine introduces readers to the enigmatic, inexplicable Luther Cross.Luther Cross has been through Hell—literally. Born of a mother he watched die, conceived as part of a demonic ritual, and raised by monks after being saved by a mysterious, murderous individual, Cross now makes what living he does through confidence schemes…and the death of demons. What led to a school shooting in a small town, and why is there a mystic component involved? The spirits of the victims call out for help, and only Luther Cross can answer their cries.

Tracey DiMarco is homeless. And hungry. And cold. A storm is brewing and a dangerous virus has already claimed many lives. As she stands shivering at the gas station, a goodlooking young man offers her a ride in his new car. Her lucky break? Or a fast ride to hell? Come explore your date with a madman on a haunted road during the apocalypse!Tracey DiMarco is homeless. She is hungry. And cold. She has just spent her last money on food. The weatherman on the radio at the store warned about a storm brewing. This after reports a virus has broken out and already claimed many lives. A young man offers her a ride in his new car at the gas station. Should she take the risk ... he is so goodlooking. How could he be evil? And so she gets in his car and smiles at him, never knowing what she just got herself into ...A haunted road ... as the heavens conspire, and Earth's time is running out.

Fr. Arthur Gerdtz is on a mission from God. His church is fighting for relevance in the modern world. Attendances are dwindling, atheism is on the rise, and Instagram celebrities are bigger than Jesus. This veteran priest is in grave danger of losing his religion.Until he decides to introduce some Old Testament values to the twenty-first century.FALSE ICONS & SACRED COWS is part one of HOLLYWOOD HACK JOB, with parts two and three due for release in the coming months.

The girls at Modesta High School feel like they're stuck in some anti-feminist time warp-they're faced with sexism at every turn, and they've had enough. Sponsored by their new art teacher, Ms. Stark, they band together to form the Daughters of Eve. It's more than a school club-it's a secret society, a sisterhood. At first, it seems like they are actually changing the way guys at school treat them. But Ms. Stark urges them to take more vindictive action, and it starts to feel more like revenge-brutal revenge. Blinded by their oath of loyalty, the Daughters of Eve become instruments of vengeance. Can one of them break the spell before real tragedy strikes?

Scott Markham has no recollection of events leading up to his arrival at The Help Clinic. It is Spires’ job to help him to remember, but perhaps Scott doesn’t want to do that. Perhaps the reality of his situation is too much for Scott to bear.Please review my free story.In the sixth episode of Earth, Book One of The Hrwang Incursion, the stakes are higher for Eva as she tries to insinuate herself into the Lord Admiral’s inner circle. Other survivors prepare for war. Wolfgang’s newly found sniper skills are tested and 1804 learns the fateful outcome of its decision.Acting President Hollis takes an experimental rocket the aliens missed into orbit to discuss terms, while Stanley continues to feel helpless and stuck at Hearst.Don’t miss a single episode! Each one can be downloaded for free at www.smashwords.com.

Dan Wells was Hickman County’s High School star quarterback and was close to graduating. Dan was the biggest player outside of sports if you know what I mean, and wasn't interested in being tied down by no girl. Marriage and a baby was the furthest thing on his mind. Hell was just around the corner for these two.Dan Wells was Hickman County’s High School star quarterback and was close to graduating. Dan was the biggest player outside of sports if you know what I mean, and wasn't interested in being tied down by no girl. Marriage and a baby was the furthest thing on his mind. All he cared about was sports, and getting laid until Hickman County High's prettiest cheerleader Rhonda who was the most popular girl in school hooked up with Dan for a night of hot passion which led to an unwanted pregnancy, and a lot of shedding tears between both of them. Dan was looking forward to a full athletics scholarship to a college of his choice, but now that there was a baby staring them both in the eyes wanting their love, and attention all they both seen was how one moment in time destroyed their dreams of freedom. Abortion was discussed, but neither one had the guts to follow through with it. Their freedom that they both cherished was about to come to a screeching halt because they didn't enter the thought of using protection so now they both must suffer the consequences. After the baby was born, and they both got jobs, and had a one bedroom apartment to raise their unwanted baby. They didn’t have a name for their little mistake because they were too busy blaming each other for the mistake which would ultimately change their lives and everyone around them. Heartaches and Hell was headed their way that they could never have imagined. After weeks of blaming one another with tears of sadness they decided to give the baby a name which was not out of love. They named their new baby "Demon" because instead of taking the blame for their mistake they cast the blame on the baby for the mess they got their own selves into. Dan could barely hold down his job because he was so pissed off at Rhonda and the baby, he started drinking heavily to try, and drown out his problems, but drinking doesn't solve anything, but heartaches. Dan and Rhonda fought constantly, and the only way Rhonda could deal with the situation was with prescription drugs, another bad idea. Their baby was neglected on a constant basis and yelled at by them both. As the baby got older, and was sent out in the cruel world to school, and having a name as Demon, this would only backlash on his parents, and everyone that teased, and called him names. Resentment for his parents was at an all-time high that when he became a teenager all the anger and frustration that he bottled up inside was going to be unleashed at a hellish level. For the coldness that his parent’s bestowed upon him he was going to make his parents or anyone that stood in his way pay.

Madison Spencer, the liveliest and snarkiest dead girl in the universe, continues the afterlife adventure begun in Chuck Palahniuk’s bestseller Damned. Just as that novel brought us a brilliant Hell that only he could imagine, Doomed is a dark and twisted apocalyptic vision from this provocative storyteller. The bestselling Damned chronicled Madison’s journey across the unspeakable (and really gross) landscape of the afterlife to confront the Devil himself. But her story isn’t over yet. In a series of electronic dispatches from the Great Beyond, Doomed describes the ultimate showdown between Good and Evil.      After a Halloween ritual gone awry, Madison finds herself trapped in Purgatory—or, as mortals like you and I know it, Earth. She can see and hear every detail of the world she left behind, yet she’s invisible to everyone who’s still alive. Not only do people look right through her, they walk right through her as well. The upside is that, no longer subject to physical limitations, she can pass through doors and walls. Her first stop is her parents’ luxurious apartment, where she encounters the ghost of her long-deceased grandmother. For Madison, the encounter triggers memories of the awful summer she spent upstate with Nana Minnie and her grandfather, Papadaddy. As she revisits the painful truth of what transpired over those months (including a disturbing and finally fatal meeting in a rest stop’s fetid men’s room, in which . . . well, never mind), her saga of eternal damnation takes on a new and sinister meaning. Satan has had Madison in his sights from the very beginning: through her and her narcissistic celebrity parents, he plans to engineer an era of eternal damnation. For everyone.      Once again, our unconventional but plucky heroine must face her fears and gather her wits for the battle of a lifetime. Dante Alighieri, watch your back; Chuck Palahniuk is gaining on you.

Will they escape or will they fall victim just like the many others that visits ParadisePopulation 95, everyone greet each other with warm smiles, everybody knows everybody; no secret is ever kept. You can just walk into the stores and take what you want. There were never any crime just a perfect Paradise. it seems like just any other towns, with rich prestigious people; but they are hiding a very big secret. What will happen to Meredith and her eight friends when they spend the week at her uncle's beautiful house in Paradise.

A young man descends into Purgatory to save his wife and unborn child in this gorgeous, illustrated tale of wonder and terror from the mind of master storyteller and acclaimed artist Brom Fresh out of jail and eager to start a new life, Chet Moran and his pregnant wife, Trish, leave town to begin again. But an ancient evil is looming, and what seems like a safe haven may not be all it appears . . . Snared and murdered by a vile, arcane horror, Chet quickly learns that pain and death are not unique to the living. Now the lives and very souls of his wife and unborn child are at stake. To save them, he must journey into the bowels of purgatory in search of a sacred key promised to restore the natural order of life and death. Alone, confused, and damned, Chet steels himself against the unfathomable terrors awaiting him as he descends into death’s stygian blackness. With Lost Gods, Brom’s gritty and visceral prose takes us on a haunting, harrowing journey into the depths of the underworld. Thrust into a realm of madness and chaos, where ancient gods and demons battle over the dead, and where cabals of souls conspire to overthrow their masters, Chet plays a dangerous game, risking eternal damnation to save his family.

Reeling from the tragic events of Dust & Decay, Benny Imura and his friends plunge deep into the zombie-infested wastelands of the great Rot & Ruin. Benny, Nix, Lilah and Chong journey through a fierce wilderness that was once America, searching for the jet they saw in the skies months ago. If that jet exists then humanity itself must have survived…somewhere. Finding it is their best hope for having a future and a life worth living. But the Ruin is far more dangerous than any of them can imagine. They are hunted by fierce animals escaped from zoos and circuses. They must raid zombie-infested towns for food and medical supplies. They discover the very real truth in the old saying: In the Rot & Ruin…everything wants to kill you. And what is happening to the zombies? Swarms of them are coming from the east, devouring everything in their paths. These zoms are different. Faster, smarter, infinitely more dangerous. Has the zombie plague mutated, or is there something far more sinister behind this new invasion of the living dead? In Flesh & Bone, Benny Imura, Nix Riley, Lou Chong and Lilah the Lost Girl are pitted against dangers greater than anything they've ever faced. To survive, each of them must rise to become the warriors Tom trained them to be.

With Book Two of the Experiment in Terror Series, Perry Palomino and Dex Foray trade in the stormy Oregon coast for the unforgiving deserts of New Mexico. In the for­got­ten town of Red Fox, New Mex­ico, a Navajo cou­ple is tor­tured by things unseen and by motives unknown. Wild ani­mals slink through their house in the dark, a bar­rage of stones pound their roof nightly, and muti­lated sheep car­casses are turn­ing up on their prop­erty. Armed with a cam­era and just enough to go on, Perry and Dex travel to the des­o­late locale, hop­ing to film the super­nat­ural occur­rences and add cred­i­bil­ity to their flail­ing web­cast. Only their show has a lot more work­ing against them than just grow­ing pains. Tested by dubi­ous ranch hands, a ghost from Dex’s past, and shapeshift­ing decep­tion, the ama­teur ghost hunters must learn to trust each other in order to fight the most ancient of myths…or die trying.

Although Vampires are found in many cultures, this is a short story about the Jewish origins of the Vampire legend as found in the Torah and Talmud which has entered into literature. The information in this regard is factual, as was the treatment of the Jews I describe in the late Middle Ages, just before the advent of the European Enlightenment in the early 1800's.Although Vampires are found in many cultures, this is a short story about the Jewish origins of the Vampire legend as found in the Torah and Talmud which has entered into literature. The information in this regard is factual, as was the treatment of the Jews I describe in the late Middle Ages, just before the advent of the Enlightenment. The fictional account of Bram Stoker in this particular regard, however, serves the narrative and although many Jews indeed abandoned their identity to seek opportunities outside of the ghetto walls, Stoker was not actually one of them.